09

Nov

October 4, 2017

Washington, DC – The National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund announced its endorsement of three transgender candidates in significant races for the 2017 electoral season, at its inaugural event in Washington, DC.

“We’re pleased to announce our endorsement of Andrea, Phillipe and Danica,” said NCTE Action Fund Executive Director Mara Keisling. “Their candidacies represent important advancement of transgender people in our country, and should they win, would promote and uphold laws and policies that promotes equality for the nearly two million transgender adults and children in the nation.”

Candidates endorsed are:

Phillipe Cunningham, Candidate for Minneapolis City Council, Ward 4: Cunningham is one of two Black transgender candidates in the City Council race this year. If elected, he would be the first openly transgender man to be elected to public office in the United States. Cunningham has over ten years of experience as a teacher and a youth worker, and has also served on the Minneapolis Youth Violence Prevention Executive Committee and as a senior policy aide and advisor in the Minneapolis Mayor’s Office. He currently lives in the McKinley neighborhood with his husband and four rescue pets, and serves on the McKinley Community board of directors.

Andrea Jenkins, Candidate for Minneapolic City Council, Ward 8: Jenkins has more than 25 years of public service experience as a Minneapolis City Council policy aide, nonprofit executive director and consultant, and Hennepin County employment specialist. She is also an award-winning poet, writer, and performer. In 2015, Jenkins became the first Oral Historian for the Transgender Oral History Project of the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota. She has lived in the Bryant neighborhood for 16 years. A proud parent and grandparent, she is also in a long-term, committed relationship.

Danica Roem, Candidate for Virginia House of Delegates, District 13: Roem is running against incumbent Del. Bob Marshall, who has demonstrated a strong prejudice against transgender people; most evident in his introduction of an anti-transgender “bathroom ban” legislation earlier this year. If elected, Roem would be the first openly transgender person to serve in the Virginia State House. Roem worked as a reporter for over a decade, most recently serving as news editor for the Montgomery County Sentinel, following posts at the Gainesville Times and Prince William Times.